Super Dave
05-13-04, 02:49 PM
Before the service began, the gruff-looking biker walked to the front of the sanctuary of Valley View Alliance Church.
He looked out of place. In a room full of dark suits, he wore his colors — a sleeveless denim jacket adorned with patches and bearing the logo of the Vietnam Vets Motorcycle Club. His muscled arms were covered with tattoos. His nickname was embroidered on the front of his colors — Three Tours.
When he got to the front of the church, he placed a flat jewelry box on top of Martin Kondor's flag-draped coffin. He turned, hugged Kondor's brother, Joe, and left.
No words were exchanged.
None were needed.
The gesture, what he left on Kondor's coffin, spoke for itself.
The biker is Bill Sultzbach, a 56-year-old Wrightsville man.
He's also a Marine.
He served with India Company, Third Battalion, Fourth Marines in Vietnam. He joined the Marines in '66 and volunteered for duty in Vietnam. It was the right thing to do, he said. A lot of guys his age were ducking the service. He didn't. He felt he owed it to his country to serve, that he had to serve.
He was in Vietnam from November 1966 to November 1969. He did three, year-long tours. "Two wasn't enough for me; I needed three," he said, explaining his nickname.
The Third Battalion is called the Thundering Third. Sultzbach wears the unit's patch on his colors. His unit operated all over the northern provinces of South Vietnam — from Hue to Quang Tri to Khe Sanh. He was in-country during the Tet Offensive, when North Vietnamese troops took advantage of the Vietnamese New Year cease-fire to launch major attacks. His unit fought outside Hue, scene of the some of the bloodiest combat of the war.
After Tet, his unit was taking a hill in the north, near the DMZ, when they came under heavy fire. One of his buddies was hit ahead of him. Sultzbach crawled to him, threw him over his shoulders and carried him down the hill. Along the way, a grenade exploded to his right, peppering his leg, arm and the side of his head with shrapnel.
The docs patched him up, and he went back to his unit. He was awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. The company commander gave him his medals in the field and sent him back into the fighting.
He still carries the shrapnel with him, and plenty of other scars from his service. Now, the Veterans Administration classifies him as 100 percent disabled.
He kept his Purple Heart with him. It meant a lot, symbolizing, as it did, his sacrifice for his country.
When he heard about Martin Kondor's death, he knew what he had to do. The 20-year-old Eastern York graduate had been killed by a makeshift bomb in Baqubah, Iraq, on April 29.
Sultzbach rode his Harley to the Valley View Alliance Church Monday morning to pay his respects and to represent those who served in Vietnam. "I'm Marines, and he's Army," he said. "But that doesn't matter. We're brothers."
He struggled to find a way to honor his fallen brother.
He thought about it and decided to give Martin Kondor — a man he never met — one of his prized possessions — his Purple Heart.
"Plain and simple," Sultzbach said, "he did something I didn't. He gave his life for his country. He deserves it a lot more than I did.
"This man earned it far beyond what I paid for it. I just felt a deep feeling to give this man my medal."
During the memorial service, the Army awarded Martin Kondor his own Purple Heart.
Somehow, you think, the one from a brother in arms means more. Inside the jewelry box, he wrote, simply, "From Sgt. Bill Sultzbach to Pfc. Spc. Martin Kondor."
After placing his medal on Martin Kondor's coffin, Sultzbach left the church, climbed aboard his bike and left. He didn't stay for the service. He doesn't like funerals. Too depressing. Too many flag-draped coffins in his past.
Mike Argento, whose column appears Mondays and Thursdays in the Living section and Saturdays on the editorial page, can be reached mike@ydr.com.
A GREAT story and as a member of 3/4 it makes me even prouder!
He looked out of place. In a room full of dark suits, he wore his colors — a sleeveless denim jacket adorned with patches and bearing the logo of the Vietnam Vets Motorcycle Club. His muscled arms were covered with tattoos. His nickname was embroidered on the front of his colors — Three Tours.
When he got to the front of the church, he placed a flat jewelry box on top of Martin Kondor's flag-draped coffin. He turned, hugged Kondor's brother, Joe, and left.
No words were exchanged.
None were needed.
The gesture, what he left on Kondor's coffin, spoke for itself.
The biker is Bill Sultzbach, a 56-year-old Wrightsville man.
He's also a Marine.
He served with India Company, Third Battalion, Fourth Marines in Vietnam. He joined the Marines in '66 and volunteered for duty in Vietnam. It was the right thing to do, he said. A lot of guys his age were ducking the service. He didn't. He felt he owed it to his country to serve, that he had to serve.
He was in Vietnam from November 1966 to November 1969. He did three, year-long tours. "Two wasn't enough for me; I needed three," he said, explaining his nickname.
The Third Battalion is called the Thundering Third. Sultzbach wears the unit's patch on his colors. His unit operated all over the northern provinces of South Vietnam — from Hue to Quang Tri to Khe Sanh. He was in-country during the Tet Offensive, when North Vietnamese troops took advantage of the Vietnamese New Year cease-fire to launch major attacks. His unit fought outside Hue, scene of the some of the bloodiest combat of the war.
After Tet, his unit was taking a hill in the north, near the DMZ, when they came under heavy fire. One of his buddies was hit ahead of him. Sultzbach crawled to him, threw him over his shoulders and carried him down the hill. Along the way, a grenade exploded to his right, peppering his leg, arm and the side of his head with shrapnel.
The docs patched him up, and he went back to his unit. He was awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. The company commander gave him his medals in the field and sent him back into the fighting.
He still carries the shrapnel with him, and plenty of other scars from his service. Now, the Veterans Administration classifies him as 100 percent disabled.
He kept his Purple Heart with him. It meant a lot, symbolizing, as it did, his sacrifice for his country.
When he heard about Martin Kondor's death, he knew what he had to do. The 20-year-old Eastern York graduate had been killed by a makeshift bomb in Baqubah, Iraq, on April 29.
Sultzbach rode his Harley to the Valley View Alliance Church Monday morning to pay his respects and to represent those who served in Vietnam. "I'm Marines, and he's Army," he said. "But that doesn't matter. We're brothers."
He struggled to find a way to honor his fallen brother.
He thought about it and decided to give Martin Kondor — a man he never met — one of his prized possessions — his Purple Heart.
"Plain and simple," Sultzbach said, "he did something I didn't. He gave his life for his country. He deserves it a lot more than I did.
"This man earned it far beyond what I paid for it. I just felt a deep feeling to give this man my medal."
During the memorial service, the Army awarded Martin Kondor his own Purple Heart.
Somehow, you think, the one from a brother in arms means more. Inside the jewelry box, he wrote, simply, "From Sgt. Bill Sultzbach to Pfc. Spc. Martin Kondor."
After placing his medal on Martin Kondor's coffin, Sultzbach left the church, climbed aboard his bike and left. He didn't stay for the service. He doesn't like funerals. Too depressing. Too many flag-draped coffins in his past.
Mike Argento, whose column appears Mondays and Thursdays in the Living section and Saturdays on the editorial page, can be reached mike@ydr.com.
A GREAT story and as a member of 3/4 it makes me even prouder!